Assessment Information & Brief 2021/2022

Module title Project Management Leadership and

Skills: Planning and Control
57364 – Information Systems FT (RKC)
CRN
57364 – MSc Project Management FT-DL (RKC)

Level 7

Assessment title Assessment Portfolio - Individual

This assessment is worth 100% of the overall module
Weighting within module
mark.

Submission deadline date and time See OnlineCampus

Module Leader
Dr Stelios Sapountzis

Assessment set by:

Dr Stelios Sapountzis

How to submit
You should submit your final assessment for grading no later than the submission deadline.

Assessment task details and instructions

You need to develop a business case that will include the planning, control, leadership and
people skills considerations of a proposed project based on the following case study.

Project Management Leadership and Skills: Planning and Control – ASSESSMENT PORTFOLIO brief and instructions
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 STEP 1 – Read the Case Study
CASE STUDY : ‘The Yang Sing Hotel in Manchester’
This section contains information from news and other sources.
We have sought to make this as close as possible to a live project brief.

Yang Sing Hotel Manchester

Advertisement for the hotel

The Yang Sing Oriental offers 48 individually designed bedrooms and suites inspired by the
cultures of Japan, China, India, Thailand and beyond fused together in a grade II listed building
in the heart of Manchester. We offer a level of service never seen before in the city. Guests can
tailor make their service using the online booking system, selecting from our extensive
personalised menus from pillows and Japanese silk duvets to your complimentary bathroom
products and even which scent will fill your room.
A boutique Hotel which was refurbished from a former paper mill. The hotel extends over seven
floors includes 48 individually designed bedrooms, bar, lounges, breakfast and spa rooms and is
located in a prominent position on the corner of Princess and Portland Streets, close to the
China Town area within Manchester city centre. The conversion of the mill to a hotel cost £4
Million.
This building is a Grade II listed “Manchester” warehouse, with cast iron internal columns,
timber beams and masonry external walls. The building had been left vacant for a number of
years and extensive repair works were required to prevent further deterioration (to remove dry
and wet rot, leaking roof, leaning parapet brickwork etc.), before plans to convert into hotel
were developed.
Structural conversion works included removing the original central staircase and lift;

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 constructing a new lift and stair-core, repair and strengthening works to timber floor beams;
adaption and strengthening works to roof trusses to allow formation of mezzanine floor to top
floor suites; formation of new plant room at roof level; repair of cast iron column, and
enhancing stability of external masonry walls. The considerable work required meant that
rebuilding and redesign work went over budget and over time. The building is a Grade II listed
“Manchester” warehouse, with cast iron internal columns, timber beams and masonry external
walls. The building had been left vacant for a number of years and extensive repair works were
required to prevent further deterioration (to remove dry and wet rot, leaking roof, leaning
parapet brickwork etc.), before plans to convert into hotel were developed.
Structural conversion works included removing the original central staircase and lift;
constructing a new lift and stair-core, repair and strengthening works to timber floor beams;
adaption and strengthening works to roof trusses to allow formation of mezzanine floor to top
floor suites; formation of new plant room at roof level; repair of cast iron column, and
enhancing stability of external masonry walls.

Yang Sing Closes

Manchester Evening News, 2/3/2009
Yang Sing Oriental, the luxury Manchester city centre boutique hotel, closed its doors today less
than eight months after it opened - victim of the deepening economic crisis. The company will
be placed into the hands of a liquidator. Managing director Gerry Yeung, who realised a long-
standing ambition when he launched the £8m project in a listed building in Princess Street last
July, said: “It is a tragedy." The 48-bedroom Yang Sing Oriental hotel, which adjoins the eight-
floor Yang Sing Cantonese restaurant in the city and opened just eight months ago, closed its
doors on Monday 2 March.
Yang Sing Oriental, the luxury Manchester city centre boutique hotel, closed its doors today less
than eight months after it opened - victim of the deepening economic crisis. The company will
be placed into the hands of a liquidator.
Managing director Gerry Yeung, who realised a long-standing ambition when he launched the
£8m project in a listed building in Princess Street last July, said: “It is a tragedy.
“My team are amazing and one of the saddest outcomes of this is that 30 people will be made
redundant.
“Together we have created the best hotel in Manchester and business was growing. Everyone
who stayed here loved it, but we couldn’t have picked a worse time to open a luxury hotel: with
a global banking crisis, credit crunch, and the worst recession since the 1930s.
“I have committed an additional £1m of my personal money to the Yang Sing Oriental since it
was launched, but with room rates being massively discounted across the luxury hotel market,
and with no end to the recession in sight, the business is just not sustainable.”
The nationally renowned Yang Sing Restaurant, located next door and run jointly by Mr Yeung

Project Management Leadership and Skills: Planning and Control – ASSESSMENT PORTFOLIO brief and instructions
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 and his brother Harry for more than 30 years, is unaffected by the hotel’s closure.
The Yang Sing Oriental offered 48 individually designed bedrooms and suites inspired by the
cultures of the Far East, with rack rate tariffs ranging from £179 - £569 per night.
A statement on the hotel’s website said: “Gerry Yeung and his amazing team at Hotel Yang Sing
Oriental deeply regret to inform you that, despite their hard work and best efforts, Yang Sing
Oriental Ltd has been placed into liquidation.
“As a result of this, Hotel Yang Sing Oriental closed its doors on Monday 2nd March 2009.
“We thank you all most sincerely for your support and the generous and wonderful reviews that
you have kindly sent to us. It has been an honour and a privilege to welcome you to the hotel
over the past eight months. We are so glad that you have enjoyed staying with us.”
Gerry Yeung said: "We tried to create the best hotel in Manchester and we really feel that we
have succeeded. Everyone who stayed here loved it. Unfortunately, our timing could not have
been worse; opening only to suffer a global banking crisis, credit crunch and the worst recession
since the 1930s."
Critics were impressed by the hotel after its launch. The international travel website TripAdvisor
rated the Yang Sing Oriental Number 1 of 147 Manchester hotels in its Popularity Index.
A newspaper travel writer said: “Manchester is a world class destination and has the
accommodation to match. It [Yang Sing Oriental] is incredibly stylish, luxurious and laid back...”
Guest feedback on the Late Rooms website showed that 98 per cent of visitors would
recommend the hotel and would return.
The hotel was full at the weekend, but guests were taking advantage of rate cuts of up to 50 per
cent which are now becoming commonplace across the industry.
Gerry Yeung, the boss of the city centre boutique hotel, told Manchester Confidential that there
were a combination of factors all rooted in the economic crisis which have led to the failure of
the business.
“We’re operating at 60% capacity at the moment which isn’t too bad but the problem is we
can’t get the room rates we need. Even at 60% we’re discounting. In another economic time I
believe we would have been fine, but we opened just as things start to get bad globally. We
were ambitious too, we wanted to provide very individual accommodation, with 24 hour room
service and five star customer service generally.”
Funding for the hotel was provided by the Yeung’s , private investors and NatWest Commercial
Banking. Total losses are estimated in the region of £7 Million

STEP 2 – Read the Assignment Brief

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 You have recently been appointed as the Project Manager by an investment company who wish
to relaunch the Yang Sing Hotel under a new name after recently buying the building but they
have concerns over the problems that caused the Yang Sing Hotel to close.
A. Planning and Control – up to 2,000 words and/or diagrams, illustrations, tables and graphs

Develop key elements of an outline business case for the project to demonstrate the utilisation
of appropriate project management tools and techniques in relation to strategic alignment,
economic impact, planning and scheduling as well as financial considerations.
The outline business case needs to include:
A1. the project’s Mission and Objectives including the anticipated Impact that the
Dementia Village will have to the organisation and other main stakeholders;
A2. A full stakeholder management plan;
A3. An outline project activity plan using the appropriate Planning Breakdown
Structures;
A4. A resource allocation and utilisation plan by using a Resource Assignment Matrix;
A5. A cost estimation and allocation for the duration of the project using an appropriate
technique;
A6. A timeline schedule with key milestones;
A7. A Risk Management Assessment table for the 5 key risks associated with the
delivery of the project.
2 . People Management – up to 1000 words

In you report you will also need to consider and discuss the following areas in the context of the
project:
B1 . Where is conflict likely to arise in the project? What 5 strategies could you put into
place to tackle these sources of conflict?
B2. Give five reasons why a sponsor may be necessary in the project? Give explanations
B3. What management style would be most appropriate for the Project Manager of the
project. Give explanations

KEY INSTRUCTIONS

You will need to take the following into account when completing your assignment.

 Each topic should be corelated to a relevant Project Management theory, tool or

application and be fully referenced;
 All discussion included will need clarity of argument and relevance to the project’s
context;

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 You should follow an industrial report format. Therefore, your report should have: 
 Cover page that will include the Project title; 
 Executive Summary; (not part of the word count) 
 Contents page;
 Introduction;
 Main body split in sub sections based on the 10 thematic areas as detailed in page 4.
 Discussion and Conclusion;
 References / Bibliography;
 Appendices if required.
The report should also be page numbered. Please note if you are uncertain on how to present
and structure a report then visit the university library and ask for assistance.
You are advised to use diagrams, illustrations, tables, graphics etc. wherever these are helpful,
and remember that these do not count towards your word limit. If you do use these, please do
not put them in the appendices if they are part of your discussion. Appendices are the
appropriate places to put supporting material, however, remember if the reader is satisfied with
the main points of your discussion; the supporting information within the appendices may not
even be reviewed.
Try to use theory explicitly at all stages, but do not spend too much time describing a theory.
While you must be explicit about the theories, models, techniques etc. that you use, you can
assume that the reader is familiar with them. What the reader requires is evidence of your
ability to understand and apply the theory and learn from in order to support the development
of your findings and/or ideas.
You must cite all sources on which you have relied, for example textbooks, journal articles, web
pages etc. using the APA 7th (Harvard) Style system. If you do not cite all sources, then you may
be accused of plagiarism, and that may endanger your success in passing the module. If you are
in any doubt about how to reference your work, please obtain guidance from the library and/or
your academic librarian(s) for this module.

On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding.

 Recognise the role and significance of project planning within the international business
environment
 Identify project management requirements across a range of organisational contexts and
structures
 Demonstrate a critical understanding of a broad range of issues/techniques relating to
project management including: planning, scheduling & resourcing, communications, team
working and risk management

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  Use a range of established techniques to initiate and undertake project management
problems, evaluating alternatives and proposing solutions

Transferable/Key Skills and other Attributes.

 Effectively plan a project;

 Demonstrate an appreciation of the difficulties of solving the practical difficulties that may
arise in relation to projects and to have gained experience in searching for solutions to such
difficulties;

Module Aims
 To develop knowledge and critical understanding of the principles of effective project
management within a global business context and the ways in which these principles
have developed
 To facilitate an understanding of project management skills techniques, methods and
tools and their application and limitations
 To enable students to acquire competences and develop existing their skills to propose
solutions to the management of projects within a range of eventual career options

Word count
The report should be up to 3,000 words. Your word count is from the introduction to conclusion
sections. Therefore, it does not include title page, contents page, reference section, appendices
etc. If the assignment exceeds these limits; the work in excess of 3,000 will not be marked.
Late submission:
All work submitted late will be capped at the pass mark of 50%, there is no sliding scale
Student Facing Policies and Procedures

Feedback arrangements
You can expect to receive feedback
 Three working weeks (excluding University Seasonal Closing) after the submission date.
 Marks and written feedback will be available on OnlineCampus

Support arrangements
You can obtain support for this assessment by attending class discussions via the forum and the
live sessions. During the duration of the module delivery there will be designated sessions
focusing on the assessment. The date and time of these sessions will be communicated during
the on line sessions and advertised on the module’s site. These sessions will provide you with
good opportunities to ask questions to provide clarity and direction on the subject and

Project Management Leadership and Skills: Planning and Control – ASSESSMENT PORTFOLIO brief and instructions
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 addressing the assessment brief.

Don’t forget it is important to visit the module syllabus to access all relevant material, session
recordings and recommended reading.

askUS
The University offers a range of support services for students through askUS.
Good Academic Conduct and Academic Misconduct
Students are expected to learn and demonstrate skills associated with good academic
conduct (academic integrity). Good academic conduct includes the use of clear and correct
referencing of source materials. Here is a link to where you can find out more about the
skills which students require http://www.salford.ac.uk/skills-for-learning.
Academic Misconduct is an action which may give you an unfair advantage in your
academic work. This includes plagiarism, asking someone else to write your assessment
for you or taking notes into an exam. The University takes all forms of academic
misconduct seriously. You can find out how to avoid academic misconduct here
https://www.salford.ac.uk/skills-for-learning.

Assessment Information
If you have any questions about assessment rules, you can find out more here.

Personal Mitigating Circumstances

If personal mitigating circumstances may have affected your ability to complete this
assessment, you can find more information about personal mitigating circumstances
procedure here.

Student Progression Administrator

If you have any concerns about your studies, contact StudentCare.

Reassessment
If you fail your assessment, and are eligible for reassessment, you will need to resubmit in a
date that will be notified to you. For students with accepted personal mitigating circumstances,
this will be your replacement assessment attempt. If a student needs to be reassessed, s/he will
be given a new assignment brief with a deadline, which will be provided by the School.

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Assessment Criteria

MISSION, OBJECTIVES and Impact

10
Is the mission concise, inclusive and inspiring? Are the
objectives SMART? Is there any emphasis on Impact to
stakeholders, value generation and desired benefits

Stakeholder Management
10
Have all 4 stages of the stakeholder management cycle been
discussed, applied and considered?

Planning and Scheduling

Have all breakdown structures been considered?

Has the schedule of the key activities, milestones been

identified?
30
Resources: are resources included (and linked to schedule)?
RAM /RACI matrix

Are costs budgeted and included? Is there evidence of the use

of the appropriate cost estimation techniques?

Risk Management:
10
Are the risks and constraints appropriate to the project and is
there a Risk Management table been deployed?

People Management

Has the Conflict likely to arise in the project been discussed ?

Is there suggestion of the 5 strategies that you could put into
place to tackle these sources of conflict in the context of the
30
case study? Have the reasons on why a Sponsor is necessary
in the project been provided and explained?

Has the management / leadership style that would be most

appropriate for the Project Manager been discussed?

Report Integration and coherence, presentation and

referencing

Are the different components of the report well integrated,

with good application of technique/theory?
10
Is there evidence of effective research in ideas and solution
application to the selected project and its plan/justification?

Is the bibliography / referencing in the right format, relevant

and current?

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You should consult Level 7 Generic Grade Descriptors for detailed grade/mark descriptors

Criterion / 90-100 80-89 70-79 60-69 50-59 40-49 0-39

Mark range

Overall level Standard Standard Distinctive work Merit work for Acceptable for Below Masters Significantly
comparable to comparable to for Masters level Masters level Masters pass standard below Masters
(indicative – journal conference paper pass standard
not for publication publication
grading)

Scope Outstanding Excellent clarity Clear focus. Clear scope and Scope evident Poorly scoped, Little or no
clarity of focus, of focus, Very good focus, with some and satisfactory with scope or focus
includes what is boundaries set setting of omissions or but with some significant evident.
important, and with no boundaries unnecessary omissions and omissions and
excludes significant includes most of issues. unnecessary unnecessary
irrelevant issues. omissions or what is relevant. issues. issues.
unnecessary
issues.

Understanding Outstanding with Excellent with Very good with Good with some Basic with Poor with little Little or no
of subject critical awareness critical awareness critical awareness awareness of limited awareness of understanding of
matter of relevance of of relevance of of relevance of relevance of awareness of relevance of subject matter is
issues. issues. Excellent issues. issues. Ideas are relevance of issues demonstrated.
Outstanding expression of Outstanding expressed, with issues. Limited
expression of ideas. expression of some limitation. expression of
ideas. ideas. ideas.

Comprehensive Excellent Very good Good secondary Limited Little or no Poor use of
literature review. independent independent research to secondary extension of taught materials.
Literature Evaluation and secondary secondary extend taught research to taught No synthesis.
synthesis of research. Sources research. Sources materials. extend taught materials.
source material to are evaluated and are evaluated and Evidence of materials. Poor choice
produce an synthesized to synthesized to evaluation of Limited and synthesis
outstanding produce an produce a very sources, with evaluation of of materials.
contribution. excellent good some deficiencies sources,
contribution. contribution. in choice and deficiencies in
synthesis. choice and
synthesis.

Critical Standard of Excellent A very good Critical analysis Analysis evident Little or no No valid
analysis based critical analysis – standard of standard of with some but uncritical. analysis. analysis.
on evidence showing critical analysis – critical analysis. questioning of Sources are not
questioning of excellence in Sources are sources, always
sources, questioning of questioned understanding of questioned, with
understanding of sources, appropriately, bias, limited
bias, understanding of and a very good independence of independence of
independence of bias, understanding of thought. thought.
thought independence of bias, showing
thought independence of
thought

Structure of Well structured, Argument has Well-structured Structured and Argument has Argument is No evidence of
argument, compelling and excellent and persuasive fairly convincing some structure unstructured, argument or
leading to persuasive structure and argument argument leads to and development no conclusion.
conclusion argument that persuasiveness, Insightful conclusion that towards recognizable
leads to a valuable leading to very conclusion draws summarises key conclusion with conclusion.
contribution to the significant together key issues. limitations in
field of study, insights and issues and summary of
paving the way relevant future possible future issues.
for future work work. work.

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